3. In the 8th Century and under the pressure of the Arab invasion, Armenian Princes Shabuh and his son Hamam Amadouni leave their lands in North Vasburagan and migrate to the Kachkar Mountains (overlooking the Black Sea). North Vasburagan was the homeland of the Armenian Amadouni Princedom.
5. The Princes and their men reach the destroyed city of Tambour in the Kachkar Mountains. Prince Hamam rebuilds the city and calls it Hamamshen (in Armenian means Hamam’s city) Later the name becomes Hamshen (Armenian) and Hemshin (Turkish)
6. Prince Hamam and his men settled in the area surrounding Hamshen which is now known as Firtina Valley Over the years, the Hemshinlis were spread in many regions of the Black Sea Area (Karadere, Hemsin dere, Hopa, Borcka, Rize, Trabzon, Ordu, Samson, Bolu and Sakarya)
7. Between the 8 th and the 14 th centuries, a prosperous Hamshen Princedom survived in the black sea area. The people of Hamshen became known as Hemshinli and their language Hemshintsi (Homshetsna) which is a dialect of the Armenian language
8.
9. Hamshen city was destroyed in 1489 by the Ottoman Army and its last Prince Davit was exiled The exact location of the city is still not known The old history of Hamshen is still under extensive research by historians
10. From 1450 onwards, the Ottomans started forcing the Hemshinlis to convert to Islam Although according to the Holy Qoran, Islam cannot be forced.
15. Family names were changed….. Apelyan became Apeloglu Hakopyan became Akopoglu Vezirian became Veziroglu
16. During the forced conversion, Most of the villages resisted One of the famous Hemshinli heroes was Ter Karapet Hamshentsi from Toroslu Village
17. In the 1800s, Many Hemshinlis fleed to Samson and Ordu and later on to Krasnodar (Russia) and Abkhazya (Georgia). They kept their language and remained Christian. These are known today as the North Hemshinlis
19. Other Hemshinlis fleed to Hopa-Borcka area (Artvin province in Turkey). They kept their language but they were forced to convert after several decades. They are known today as Hopa-Hemshinlis (Eastern)
21. The Hemshinlis who stayed on their lands (Rize Province in Turkey) lost their religion and gradually lost their language. They speak Hemshinji which is a Turkish Dialect containing many Armenian words. Today they are known as Bash Hemshinli (Western)
33. No concrete statistics on the total numbers but they are roughly estimated between 500 to 750,000 and mainly living on the coast of the Black Sea (Turkey, Georgia and Russia)
